DaveC's RMAF 2017 Picture Thread

[DaveC]

ELAC Adante... very neat design, there is a 6.5" driver behind each 8" passive radiator forming a 12dB acoustic crossover. The mid/tweet covers >200 Hz and is concentric. Excellent value at $5k and honestly hard to touch at that price. I felt the presentation was a bit soft, and at $5k I can see that as a good decision over a speaker like my Pioneer S-1EX... The S-1 was also designed by Alex Jones, which besides costing 2x the price are quite ruthless and won't accept lower end electronics unless you want to hate your stereo. The Adante is likely to be a lot more forgiving.






Next was the new Revel speakers which are a rung down from the top end lineup, but sound very similar imo... they have a Be tweeter but the other drivers use coated Al cones instead of Ti. Price is $10k and compared to the previous ELAC Adante are on a whole 'nother level as far as resolution and clarity, but will probably require much more expensive electronics for a decent result.

 

[DaveC]

Avantgarde Unos... AG is getting better and better too. A friend has an older pair of Unos and comparisons to the Bose Acoustimass system might be warranted, but no longer. These sounded very nice.





Swan Song showing their 18" 2-way horn system powered by 6SN7 amp... 5 triodes in parallel make up the output with 1 for input. 3.3W of signal tube magic! I liked this system a lot too but it is enormous and the horns could be a bit prettier. It was a lot of fun to listen to though, and if you have the space the bass is excellent.

 

[DaveC]

Voxativ has also improved a lot over the years, and the system is now quite good imo, with more of the "single driver magic" that makes the format worthwhile to some.






Magico M6... I don't blame them for the static display, they're meant for slightly larger rooms...





And at the end of the 2nd day, Troy speakers featuring GPA's Altec 604 repro with a helper woofer and T500 tweet. And.. little resonators by J Trillo. I got a demo of them on and off the speakers and was surprised to find they lend a nice clarity to the sound. I normally don't find the 604's mids and treble to be all that refined, but the resonators and the T500 tweet work to make this a pretty exceptional implementation of the 604. Electronics were also excellent with Triode Corp amps, Sonorus rtr, Garrard tt, Metronome cdp.

Anyways, I'd like to see if a resonator on the tip of my midrange driver's phase plug will do the same for my speaker as the Troy.

 

[GSOphile]

Very nice, Dave. Excellent pics and thoughtful commentary.

 

[BruceD]

Grateful thanks for the excellent Pics and comments--kudos and appreciate the effort

Kudos

BruceD

 

[DaveC]

Thanks! I'll post the pics from Sunday later.

 

[Steve williams]

Thanks! I'll post the pics from Sunday later.

looking forward to them Dave

BTW your commentary is excellent

 

[DaveC]

Thanks Steve!

Alright, here's Sunday's pics...

Serious Stereo with GPA Altec 604s in a huge MLTL plywood box. Also, 2a3 (?) SET amps. I like the simplicity of systems like this, and the sound was very good too!









MSB Reference DAC being shown off with YG speakers. This was an excellent room if you weren't in the front row, which had some really odd soundstaging effects from being too close, but the middle and back were fine and really showed off the DAC. I have a very modest digital source and am rarely envious of higher end digital, but this has changed my mind. There IS something significantly better and I want it. Now if only I can convince MSB they should give me 90% off we're all set. :lol: I heard tracks that were better than all but the best of the best analog, and even then the differences were not major. I'd take this DAC over the same $ invested in analog anyday.

 

[DaveC]

Vinnie Rossi showing off his Lio and Harbeth speakers. I liked the sound a lot, it was much more like the system he showed in 2015 with the 40.2s... I did not like the Harbeths shown last year, too dark for me, but I can see the appeal. So these are 30.2s, the same as the 40.2s just without the 12" woofers. The performance from these small 2-way monitors is extraordinary, I don't know how they can do it... it does a great job of imaging, they portray clearly and separately every instrument or voice in the soundstage in a way very few speakers can regardless of price, and they can do this with recordings most systems make into a muddy mess. I've heard TAD pull of something similar in a $300k system... this is <$20k for the Lio and 30.2s. If I was looking for a monitor type speaker this would be at the top of my list and a complete integrated like the Lio is perfect for a speaker system like this too. It's like a "lifestyle" system that's far better than any other I've heard including Diavalet Phantom and Kii 3s that cost a lot more.










New Salk Speakers are up next. Great value, and both systems sounded similar but the Lampi electronics provided a refined sound the other room couldn't touch. Lampi needed a bigger speaker and larger room to really do the electronics justice imo, but you could get a feel for what's going on and it would certainly prompt me to investigate further if I was in the market for a new high end DAC. Only thing I could maybe wish for was a more mid-bass impact, buy hey, for ~$5k and $3.5k for a pair of these new Salk speakers, this is nit-picking and if you're looking for speakers in this price range they are competitive with anything including ELAC Adante and others.

 

[DaveC]

Avalon with Spectral and Acoustica Applicata... not technically at RMAF but a 5 min walk to the Hyatt. I think the Hyatt gave them the room with the worst acoustics in the entire hotel but they managed to do a great job taming it. I chose to sign up for the noon Sunday slot as I imagined it would be a lot less busy and this worked out great... I was the only one there and got to talk to Keith Johnson of Reference Recordings and Spectral designer one on one, which was a treat as he is a wealth of knowledge about all things audio. Later, when the music started, two more guests arrived.

The system was excellent and hard to fault for anything, which leaves me with little to say. It didn't have much of a definable character to it, and no obvious flaws. Sounds boring but it gets out of the way of the music without imposing it's own character, which is high praise indeed. I'm sure the Acoustica Applicata room treatments helped a lot too, the Helmholtz resonators were very interesting... you can tune the upper chamber volume by sliding the top housing up and down and rotate the membrane that is in the center of the resonator as well.

Avalon intends to show, partner with and promote the use of their speakers with Spectral electronics and AA room treatments as a complimentary system, which is a great idea and guarantees the customer a system that performs as intended with proper setup.

 

[DaveC]

The last room I made it to was Audiokenisis, Duke and James were showing their new Azel speakers. Spoiler... they earned a Best of Show for value from me. There is getting to be more competition in the $5-10k range and lots of great choices from Odyssey, Salk, Pranafidelity, ELAC, and tons more but I'd choose the Azels. The new cab looks great and most importantly the compression driver is sporting a beryllium diaphragm that has much better clarity, resolution and high frequency extension. I noticed it immediately and it elevates this speaker to a whole 'nother league. I was very impressed!

 

[spiritofmusic]

Dave, can you elaborate a bit more on the new Zu Druid VI you heard and were pretty complimentary about?
I've been a proud and loyal customer of Zu for just shy of a decade (Definitions 2 in 2008, 4 in 2013, and Duelunds/Lundahls upgrades to the 4 in 2015), and my room acoustics and power grid have taken the 4 to new levels of transparency, texture and natural warmth.
And now they're starting to roll out the new changes across the range starting w these Druid VI, incl lighter and stiffer nano tech impregnated paper cones, and carbon fibre/birch ply monocoque cabinets, again lighter and stiffer.
The gist I'm getting is that Zu are 100% maintaining their signature tone dense and textured presentation, but w added speed, transparency and reduced cabinet/driver "talk".
I'm really hoping that this is the time when Zu finally get the respect they heartily deserve from the wider audiophile community that's kinda eluded them so far.

 

[GMKF]

Thanks for the great pics !

Greetings from cold and wet Germany !

 

[DaveC]

Thanks GMKF, from a cold, wet Colorado. 1st snow of the season for the Denver area yesterday.

spirit, what I'd say is over the years the speakers have exhibited less of their own character, they have reduced artifacts and made the speakers sound more neutral. I've always enjoyed listening to the Zu speakers, but years ago they were very colored and sounded a lot like a PA speaker... it just had that kind of sound to it. Now it's shed most of that and is more neutral, but retains the character that makes it fun to listen to... high efficiency, dynamics, ability to play at high SPLs. They are worth checking out for sure... not everyone's cup of tea but that's the case for all speakers I think.